Try To Understand
by dettahteen
Summary: What if the roles were switch? Naruto went to Orochimaru what were his reasons and what if Sasuke tried desperately to get his friend back home only to fail but what if there's a solution the village must find before the time limit set by Orochimaru
1. Don't go!

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto there I said it, (starts pouting on the side)

For those of you who noticed, yes I fixed up this chapter, I just didn't like the way I left it.

and just to let more of you know, I have been slowly working on my stories,it gets harder when every detail i want to place starts clashing with my other idea's, but no worries, I have said this before.

No matter how long it takes me, I will never give up on any stories I have posted.

Summary: What if the roles were switch? Naruto went to Orochimaru what were his reasons? and what if Sasuke tried desperately to get his friend back home only to fail. But what happens if this time there is a solution that the hidden leaf must find before Naruto is offered up to Orochimaru as a sacrifice.

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**Chapter One:**

_**Don't Go!**_

* * *

The day went uneventful as Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto returned home from a mission, everyone was acting as normal as any other day. Sasuke ignored his teammates; Sakura worshiped Sasuke, while Naruto tried his best to get Sakura's attention. When it was time for everyone to go on home, Sasuke said his good-bye, Sakura did hers, as Naruto was unusually silent as he smiled a rather fake smile, before he ran off, and his friends were suspicious, but instead of intervening, they decided it would be best to go ask him about it the next day.

The sun peaked high in the sky, birds chirping away in the distance, as the wind was slightly creating movement in the tree leaves all around them, Naruto had just arrived at the bridge feeling a bit off as he observed his teammates in silence as he slowly walked to their location. Sasuke was as usual was early for the team meeting on the bridge as he leaned against the railing looking off in the distance, Sakura wasn't too far behind as she immediately tried to spark a conversation with Sasuke who didn't even acknowledge her existence.

'They don't even appreciate you being with them' the words echoed in the blonds head like venom as he walked up to his fellow team mates, he didn't bother to greet them as he went straight to the opposite side of the bridge and sat down looking at the flowing water below, quickly losing himself in his thoughts. He began thinking about his recent brooding over the words he had been hearing in his dreams lately, but recently instead of just a voice, a man had started appearing in his dreams. This man in his dreams was extremely familiar as the young blond attempted continuously to figure out who was the pale man who haunted his dreams.

Sasuke noticed the quiet blond as did Sakura, they watched at the blond moved away from them as he went to sit by himself which made a dent in their daily ritual. Before Sasuke could asked what was wrong, a poof of smoke appeared as a man with white fluffy hair, and a navy mask to cover most of his face except for his single eye that seemed to smile at them, Kakashi had finally arrived.

"Hello sorry I'm late as you can see I saw a cat stuck in a tree so I went to help it out-" Kakashi was cut off

"ENOUGH SENSEI WE DON"T WANT TO HEAR IT" Sakura screamed at him.

When Sakura noticed that is was only her own voice yelling at Kakashi she turned to see the missing person that would yell at the aloof teacher along side of her. Naruto didn't even notice that anyone had arrived, he was still in his own little world, lost in his worrying thoughts, as Kakashi contemplated the situation he decided it would be best to send his other students away while he talked to Naruto.

Kakashi whispered into Sakura's ear, covering his conversation with his hand, making sure Sasuke wasn't able to hear a snippet of what he had said.

"What is going on with Naruto?" Kakashi whispered, as Sakura only replied with her own silence as she shook her head indicating that she had no idea.

Sasuke went to his friends, and rivals side tried to look in his eyes that were filled with sadness but it didn't hold a tear, until Naruto noticed his friends hovering existence as he shot up and smiled one of his fake smiles to his rival which made Sasuke curious to know what was going on since he never smiles at him.

Kakashi was as curious as his fellow students but he didn't want to press the matter as he guessed the cause would be the villagers once again. Even though his pupils didn't know the truth they looked Naruto with concerned expressions until Kakashi would send them off to train. The two were reluctant to leave; they ran off occasionally stealing glances at Naruto who was still looking at the water below the bridge.

He wanted the blond alone as he had the unaware Naruto sit out; he sat beside his blond pupil who sat on a patch of grass and was lost within his own thoughts not noticing the older man's presence. Kakashi sat there awhile trying to find the right words to walk into this conversation with without having the blond raise his defenses.

"So Naruto mind telling your sensei what's going on?" Kakashi asked only to meet silence once again, the man was extremely worried as he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder shaking it lightly, which made the blond jump. Naruto looked around to see where he was, as he swished his head around until his gaze was met by his white haired teacher who had a serious atmosphere about him.

"As I said mind telling this old teacher of yours, your troubles?" Kakashi asked as he studied the young blond's reaction. But he was confused at the amount of emotions that ran through his blond student's face totally unaware of his own lack of concentration. It was not that long ago since the Chunin exams, and the attack on Naruto from the s-rank criminal Orochimaru who had placed his seal on Naruto's neck it was very visible on the blond's unusual choice of a black shirt and his blue shorts.

Kakashi was keeping an extra eye out for the blond since the incident, Naruto fought his best against the missing nin, but as his teammates were extremely scared and weakened before he got there. It was strange that Orochimaru chose Naruto when Sasuke was the original target, during the attack Orochimaru changed his gaze to Naruto biting the blond when he was unconscious. His comrades spent most of the time fending off attacks and trying to wake up the unconscious boy, they got away safely Sakura was worried for Naruto, while Sasuke was upset with himself for letting it all happen. When they noticed Naruto's labored breathing they knew that they had to act fast, since Naruto was running a serious fever on his first night after receiving the cursed seal.

They eventually passed the second exam when Naruto awoke; they reached the tower and fought through their way through the preliminaries, Naruto and Sasuke made it to the finals while Sakura fight was a draw, but soon after the preliminaries, after everyone was able to rest, they started making their way to celebrate at the Barbeque restaurant. The team were in the middle of the street laughing away at Kakashi's story when Naruto fell to the ground unconscious, that was when everyone noticed the mark and the excruciating pain the boy was hiding from everybody.

It has been a couple months since then, after Naruto spent some time with Jiraiya that he grew so strong that he beat a Hyuuga, Neji Hyuuga. The one kid that was his own classes rookie of the year, his team mates were so happy that is was almost unbelievable the he would be able to pull off such a feat. He remembered that Sakura yelled so loud for Naruto, cheering for him on while she sat on the stands. He was impressed with that years Chunin exams, they had some great candidates for their promotion.

But soon after Sasuke's battle a surprise attack occurred, many people were placed under a genjutsu, then when Kakashi sent the three Genin which contained Sakura, Shikamaru, and Naruto to go after Sasuke who trailed after Gaara of the Hidden sand Village. Then the most unexpected thing happened Shukaku the one tailed demon appeared in the distance which Naruto who had taken on the guise of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox had eventually defeated Gaara, and saved the village. Although during the invasion it was also one of the dark moments in the Leaf Villages history, as one of the greatest ninja died in battle, the Third Hokage. Naruto told the sand ninja his worst memories which he discovered he was the same as Gaara, a known monster in each of their villages; he connected to Gaara's heart which put a stop to the sand ninja's need for blood.

He also brought the new Hokage Tsunade who was one of the three Sanin who were the greatest ninja of their time. Even after all of his recent success he was still in his saddened state which baffled everyone, Sasuke was still stealing glances at Naruto who had lowered his head as Kakashi started to talk to him he was very concerned about what they were talking about, but he didn't dare let it show on his face knowing that the blond will use it to make fun of him when he was in a better mood at a later time.

Sakura also stole more glances at Naruto she nearly missed her mark when she threw one of her kunai, which barely hit the target fell to the ground from the contact of metal and wood. Kakashi noticed his training students' actions and began to speak to Naruto who didn't reply.

"You know I am here for you if you need anything at all." He said to reassure the young boy, who looked at him and smiled but Kakashi couldn't tell what kind of smile it was but shrugged it off when he realized the boy was uncomfortable.

'He does care!' Naruto thought happily until the voice from his dreams once again tainted his thoughts into doubt that they really didn't cared.

* * *

The night sky fell upon the three Genin who walked each other home once again only to have Naruto to smile them farewell, but just like the other times it was once again a fake smile, then he was gone in a flash. Sasuke and Sakura didn't get the chance again to ask him what was wrong, both of them shared a confused glance.

"I am going to go after him ok, tell Kakashi in case we end up fight." Sasuke exclaimed as he dashes towards Naruto's home, as Sakura ran toward Kakashi's apartment, only to notice her blond friend on the way, she didn't think twice as she ran towards him. She saw he was headed towards the village gates to the outside, only those with permission could leave the gate, a horrible thought crossed her mind.

"Naruto, what are you doing?!" Sakura yelled tears in her eyes from worry, as she waited for him to respond.

Naruto stopped as he turned around she noticed that his usual glistening eyes every time she spoke his name was gone, he stared at her with his eyes dull and glassy like a porcelain doll not holding any expression as he stood still and but after what felt like eternity he finally replied.

"I am leaving Sakura; don't try to stop me, I am going to Orochimaru!" Naruto was about to leave when Sakura yelled once again she was getting frantic tying to stall him a bit longer hoping that someone would notice.

"Don't leave me Naruto-" Sakura's sentence was cut off when Naruto appeared behind her his hand elevated with one of his kunai being held with the opposite end faced her neck.

"Thank you." Naruto whispered when he hit her in the back of her neck, when the contact between metal and skin, Sakura felt her vision turn to black she fell before Naruto's feet, she had fainted.

Naruto left the Kunoichi where she fell, as he made his way towards his destination not caring in the least at what he had done.

Sasuke was running his fastest to Naruto's home, but when he arrived the blond was gone, and the place was fixed like when someone was going to be gone for a long time. When Sasuke saw the place his heart beat started racing as he made his way through the village of bustling people he didn't understand why Naruto was acting weird very recently, then a thought went through his head which made his face even paler than before, as he ran frantically through the village, he went running past a park he nearly ran in a different direction when a flash of red appeared in the corner of his eye.

Without thinking Sasuke ran to the red clothed person who he immediately recognized as Sakura, when he checked her pulse and her breathing he found she was alive, and that she was knocked out by someone.

As the raven tried to figure out who had knocked out his teammate he had a suspect which he could not push out of his mind. The thought continued to circle around as he was in denial as the image of Naruto appeared in his mind which the Raven attempted to push the thought into the deepest parts of his mind.

"Sasuke, have you seen Naruto?" a voice said behind the pondering Uchiha, when the black haired boy looked up he saw that it was his sensei that was checking the surroundings.

"No I-I tried looking for him b-but I didn't s-see him at home, and t-then I found Sakura l-like this!" the young teen unusually stuttered, the cold was finally getting to him as his adrenaline rush came to a steady halt.

Kakashi didn't waste a second as he grabbed Sakura and Sasuke, then dashed to the hospital he gave Sakura to one of the Nurses, as he still held on to the Uchiha and took him back Sasuke's home.

"Sasuke stay here until the order to capture Naruto Uzumaki is issued, stay calm until then maybe you can be the one to convince him to return." Kakashi stated before he left.

Sasuke did as he was told, but he did it at extreme difficulty as he couldn't stay still the sun was rising as he waited in his home, when the clock struck 5am exactly an ANBU officer arrived at his door saying the Hokage has summoned him.

He ran as fast as he could towards the Hokage's office, when he arrived he was greeted by Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Neji, and the Hokage. They all stood tall as they awaited the mission at hand, she sighed as she stared at them sternly and finally spoke.

"Since I cannot send any of the more experienced Ninja, I have no choice but to select the five of you. I want a retrieval of the runaway ninja named Naruto Uzumaki!" She yelled as she motioned her hand, this was the signal for them to leave immediately. Tsunade thought about the recent reports of an unusual activity near the border. The Hidden Earth Village claim it was nothing but a training exercise, except the amount of Ninja they had in their group was considered false information, and was quickly labeled as a high risk invasion attempt. It was not something that they would take lightly, considering that it was not that long ago when Orochimaru, along with the Hidden Sand village had invaded during the final process of the Chunin exams.

'Of all the times for an emergency like this to pop up, its almost as if it were all planned out.' Tsunade had come to a sudden realization as she ordered Shizune to send out a bird carrier to send an urgent message to the fleet at the border that it was a false invasion.

* * *

The teens were at the gate in a flash as they ran towards their goal, their loud mouth blond friend, but Sasuke's goal was his best friend who at times was extremely special and at others he wondered why he associated with the loud blond.

When they were about to leave the gates, Sasuke saw Sakura standing behind them she still was crying, her eyes were red as her dress when she approached Sasuke.

"Sasuke you have to promise me you will bring him back, please! I promise this will be a once in a life time request, I may even stop fawning all over you." Sakura plead between sobs, the group of boys were unsure of how to act as they lowered their heads in shame; Sasuke looked at his pink haired team mate before he replied.

"Of course Sakura, I will bring him home and we can be exactly like we used to, I just have to get it through the blond's thick head!" The raven haired boy smiled as he held a thumb up, it was comforting for him to do something like that without Naruto around, but both of them were completely unaware of the many trials ahead that they would have to face.

The group had ran to the direction they knew Naruto had gone too, they had to quicken their pace a lot of times. The sky was beginning to darken to the dark grey as Clouds started to form, it looked like a storm was about to come.

When they had closed in on Naruto, a Group of five strange ninja appeared and fought everyone with the exception of Sasuke because the fifth went up against Lee who appeared suddenly, to create the bridge to Naruto that Sasuke needed as he ran his fastest his heart pounding at the thought it was too late to reach him.

When Sasuke reached the place that his ancestor had fought in, he recognized it as the Valley of end, and he caught a glimpse of Naruto in the distance before he could think rationally he yelled at the top of his lungs."

"NARUTO!"

The two talked awhile Sasuke was trying to convince his friend to return home by his side so that they could fight and hang out like they used too.

"Naruto please come home with me" Sasuke pleaded

"I can never return to that village again" Naruto spat

"What about you dream about being Hokage one day?"

"That was all an illusion, a dream I was deluding myself with!"

"But-"

"Bah! me Hokage, I would have never made it, they would never let a monster have such a high rank and power!"

"You can change them Naruto please you have friends we are here for you!" Sasuke yelled as tears began to fall; the coming rain hid his tears well as he tried to talk more sense into his friend.

"I have no one!" Naruto hissed as he plunged a fist into Sasuke's stomach, the force made him tumble over clutching at his stomach.

"What about Sakura?! Don't you love her?" Sasuke managed to yell after coughing up blood, he started to defend himself blocking the onslaught of punches and kicks, even though he was more skilled and had the sharingan, Naruto was gaining more speed and power as the fight continued.

"She doesn't mean anything to me anymore!" Naruto looked down at the person he once considered his best friend maybe even like a brother but in the end he didn't care, as he started to barrage him with clones, it was taxing, but Naruto couldn't feel the oncoming exhaustion.

"I can't return!" Naruto yelled, as he threw shurikan, but none of them hit their mark. Sasuke had block and dodged everyone. The rain started to get heavier, the wounds Sasuke had gotten started to burn at the contact of the stinging rain.

"Naruto why can't you come home!" Sasuke was now screaming at Naruto as he began to dodge and swerve out of the blond's punches, but the rain gave Naruto the extra edge as he started to slash at the unsuspecting Uchiha. The battle was turning deadly, every strike was meant to kill.

"There is nothing there for me! Sasuke! Whether if you knew, or you didn't. I have always been alone, have you ever felt that way? To have everyone you want to love, hate your very being! Curse your every breath that you breathe every second of every day, or every time your heart continues to beat!?" Naruto roared

Sasuke was speechless as he stared at his friend in disbelief; he didn't know the full extent of Naruto's treatment within the village. He was vulnerable to the next few punches Naruto threw at him, Naruto was only seeing blood now, all the pain he had hidden over the years were being released on Sasuke. The Uchiha regained his thoughts, and started to defend himself. He finally managed to stop the fight for a few seconds, enough time for him to try and talk some sense into his blond friend, he would not give up.

"N-Naruto we can change that you and me." Sasuke pleaded as he stared at Naruto as his expression changed quickly from confusion to anger as once again he threw punches at Sasuke. Their fight continued, but now they started to fight with Jutsu. Naruto didn't hesitate as he started to attack Sasuke with Rasengan, the ball of chakra made indents, and craters in the earth. Sasuke had to counter every one with a Chidori, it dissipated Naruto's rasengan, but he was starting to tire out. Concentrating on standing on the current on water, and attacking as well as dodging, Sasuke was breathing heavily as both he and Naruto were near their breaking point. Sasuke knew that talking was over, this was the only way he could bring the blond loud mouth back, unconscious and bound in ropes. This would be the last jutsu either of them could create, Sasuke made the Chidori in his hands, his control was shaky but it was just barely enough to make. Naruto in the distance made his Rasengan, it was strange, the clone that he always needed was no where to be seen.

'Maybe I have a chance.' Sasuke thought as he bolted towards the blond, both of their jutsu readied. Seconds before the attacks collided, Naruto changed his target to Sasuke's stomach, while Sasuke had hit his arm rendering it useless, the power had lessened severly, but it was powerful enough to knock out the raven.

The two boys fought intensely until Naruto was crowned the winner, he was bleeding pretty bad as the rain continued to fall. Naruto listened to falling rain until he looked down at the fallen form of Sasuke, his mind was finally clearing as he was about to do go for the kill, but an abrupt pain consumed his arm he realized it was broken. Naruto cradled his arm as he fell on his knee's near Sasuke's head, he looked at the boy he had once considered his best friend, as the thought of returning back home passed through his mind, but he shook it off.

'It's too late to turn back, now that I have gone this far. Sasuke, thank you but this affection is too late to change me now, I only hope you finally realize it yourself. Please live the dream I had once wanted and live a long healthy life. I only pray you forget about me, because that's what I am going to do to you.' Naruto thought as he left towards Orochimarus lair, he couldn't risk someone else coming to finish what Sasuke had failed.

Hours later Kakashi had arrived by Sasuke's side, quickly taking him back to the village to get medical care just as the other jonin who were sent to back-up the genin and chunin on the retrieval mission. It wasn't until hours later that they realized that Naruto's scent and tracks were washed away due to the rain, Kakashi couldn't erase the scene of when he saw his student Sasuke was on the ground bleeding profusely, and needed immediate medical attention. He was glad that he quickly grabbed the boy and ran his fastest towards the village, but he was instantly saddened by the loss of his blond student, they were too late.

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**Orochimaru's Lair:**

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"So there you are Naruto, how was your trip? It was pleasent I hope, after all you took your time coming here." Orochimaru grinned as he saw the boy in front of him, his innocence was replaced with a malevolent atmosphere and a killer's intent was placed in his eyes which a tint of red glowed, he noticed that it immediately disappeared as Kabuto began to heal him.

"Will you keep you promise?" The boy asked, as sat on the bed that Kabuto told him to sit on.

"Only if you keep yours." The pale snake replied as he smirked at the malice in the boy's eyes as it got more intense each second, it was only the beginning and Orochimaru was already impressed.

"I will give you my body, if not a person from the hidden leaf will be used as an experiment!" Naruto threatened, but it had no effect on the Snake as he smiled as a response before giving his word.

"I know the conditions, but let's train that body. I want it nice and strong for when I decide to have it in a few years." Orochimaru replied as he observed the blond, noticing that he was far too weak at the moment.

"A few years? What happened I came too late for you?" Naruto laughed as he lay on the bed made by Kabuto who wanted to make it easier to heal his wounds

"Exactly, that's why we have to wait." Kabuto answered for his master, moving Naruto constantly to heal the large wounds, whoever fought him left a lot for him to heal.

"Fine, I will start tomorrow and train until I am satisfied about my strength!" Naruto demanded he wouldn't give the snake complete satisfaction, after all he wouldn't make it easy for as long as he can.

Orochimaru didn't want to raise the boy's anger and release the fox within him so agreed reluctantly, after all it was only temporary he thought.

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Hoped you liked this Chapter, and I will continue I only hope one day that Naruto will return home to explain the misunderstanding he made for his village, and will they accept him even I am not sure as the story develops

I hope that you liked this, I had edited it, and made it longer with more information.


	2. Why did you go?

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto, the usual IDNON

EDITED

Thanks for the support, at first I thought that no one would like the dark Naruto, and the well changed Sasuke, almost like between Kakashi and Obito

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**Chapter 2**

_**Why did you go?**_

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Sasuke lay in his hospital bed unconscious; he was covered in bandages from head to toe slowly recovering from his battle with Naruto a few days before.

Sakura walked in silently, as the only sound penetrating the silence was the sound of the c losing door, she walked directly to the stand beside Sasuke's bed placing white daisy flowers in the vase that stood alone.

Sakura sat by his side as silent as the flowers that stood prettily in the vase on Sasuke's bedside, her tear stained face as she stared down at her fallen team mate when the thoughts of her loud orange friend crept into her mind she started to cry once again. It had been exactly one week since Naruto left for Orochimaru, and nearly killed his best friend who he thought of a brother, his own family.

She cried much more when she saw the boys return from the mission she searched frantically for a patch of blond among them but then when she couldn't find him she fell unto her knee's crying out loud then she saw her team mate on Kakashi's back she followed them despite her vision being blurred by the on coming tears.

The nurses and doctors rushed everywhere, practically running when Shikimaru's group came in; Chouji and Sasuke were in the worst as they had to be personally treated by Tsunade who barely managed to save them.

'Naruto didn't go easy on Sasuke, he nearly died. If he came here even a second later he would've.' Tsunade thought gravely, as she visualized the pure and happy young boy suddenly change into a malevolent version of her precious boy in front of her nearly killing his best friend and leaving him to die.

Tsunade sent ANBU countless of times since the boys returned only to have them return empty handed. She eventually sent some of her ninja to hunt down Jiraiya and bring him to the village. She attempted to be calm and collected as she tried to get the boy back, but the frustration of losing her favorite blond was eating away at her.

Shikamaru came to hospital daily just as Sakura had done when she visited Sasuke, he went to visit the two boys, but neither of them had woken up in days. He had tried not to burst into tears and apologize for the failure of the mission like a blubbering child, like he had done when they were in the operation room with Tsunade, instead he held his head down and apologized to the two unconscious boys.

Every night Ino and some others of the rookie Genin 12, well now it was the Genin 11 who had to go to the hospital to bring Shikamaru, and Sakura home, and force them to rest, she sometimes had to give them a sedative to help them sleep, since the first day they both fainted from exhaustion, and worry.

On the tenth day Sasuke woke up in the morning, the pain was excruciating when he moved which woke him up immediately from his drowsy state, he wondered where he was as he looked around at his surroundings, until the realization hit him he was in the hospital, he looked around he saw flowers that had started to wilt, the sun was just coming up. Within an hour of the Uchiha waking up, Chouji slowly opened his eyes, the first thing on his mind was.

'Where's my breakfast?' Chouji looked around, he saw that he was not at home; his body was in great pain as he looked around for any food that may be nearby until his eyes spotted a fruit basket that had a letter it read,

'Dear Chouji, if you ever wake up when I am not there I hope that you will be able to enjoy this until I come to see you.- Shikamaru/ Ino' Chouji couldn't help but smile, as the memory of the failed mission left his mind as he ate.

"Sasuke you're awake?" a small frail voice said, Sasuke turned to face the source and he saw what once was his team mate, her red dress was replaced with a black gown, and her once cheerful face was stained with tears and her eyes were swollen, as she tried to see him by squinting her eyes.

When Sasuke saw her, the realization hit him Naruto was gone he had failed the mission to return his best friend, and a boy who he regarded as his little brother. Sasuke rested his head on his as tears fell, he tried hard it make them stop but the pain in his heart made it impossible, he tried to ask a question in his strongest voice, before it would falter into sobs.

"Did he ever come back?" Sasuke asked, even though he knew he was deluding himself to ask the impossible outcome, as he hoped the blond would jump into the room and surprise him, he even hoped that the tears stained face on Sakura was tears of joy, but his only answer was the silence as Sakura shook her head because her voice was nearly gone from crying every night for the last ten days.

The pink haired couldn't see but she could hear the stifled cries from the almost emotionless boy beside her, as he tried to nullify his own voice as he cried out, she couldn't bring herself to tell him it would be alright, Naruto would come back like always, but she knew the reality so she stayed silent as she allowed him to let all of his tears out.

It was nearly an hour until the young Uchiha finally stopped crying, Shikamaru came ten minutes before Sasuke stopped crying he couldn't believe what he saw and it pained him to watch and hear, and he knew that it wasn't going to be the last time, he stood outside the room until the cries had stopped before he walked in.

Sasuke stared at him with red eyes, as they started to swell his tears had stained his face but not as much as Sakura's who had cried nearly every hour of every day. Ino had visited her every chance she got when she didn't come by to bring them home, Shikamaru had gotten better and started to be himself, while Sakura was putting herself in a black hole, she didn't talk or look at any one when they came by.

While Shikamaru watched as his two friends were sitting in front of him looking like they were nearing death, this was the effect that boy had on everyone, none of the villagers would admit it as they also missed the blond idiot who brought life to everyone with that goofy smile of his.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry, if I was more experienced we would have had Naruto here with us, I'm so sorry" Shikamaru said as he bowed his head, Sasuke didn't answer him as he just stared his mind was gone.

Sakura heard Shikamaru's apology, and attempted to smile as to say she had already forgiven him.

"He forgives you, he just can't seem to forgive himself, Naruto was so important to us-" Sakura shook her head as she corrected herself

"He was so important to _him." _Her voice sounded like a whisper, as she tried to speak her loudest.

Sasuke could only escape to his memories, as his friends voices were blocked out until he couldn't hear them anymore, he went through any memory with the blond in it as he let the tears fall his face, Sakura was right he couldn't forgive himself, he didn't know what was going on with the person closest to him until things got so out of hand.

* * *

**One week later:**

* * *

Sakura visited every day to help Sasuke eat, and walk when he needed to practice, he was slower to heal than Naruto for reasons that Sasuke was baffled with; he was haunted with the constant memories of the blond always invading his thoughts when he finally put him in the back of his mind.

Jiraiya finally arrived, the ANBU were vague on any details as to why he had to return so swiftly, when he walked into Tsunade's office he was shocked to see the powerful woman before him have a grim face, it looked like she would cry at any second as the toad sage moved closer, but he knew the woman for a long time, she would never shed a tear, not since that day, so many years before.

"What happened to Naruto? The ANBU weren't specific when they said the something happened to the boy" The sage said in a soft voice, with the hint of worry.

"He is now a missing ninja; he went to Orochimaru. The man sent his lackeys here two weeks ago to retrieve the boy. I sent ninja after him soon after Naruto left." Tsunade answered as she looked away from the white haired man.

"How were the results?"

"They failed, Genin to ANBU they couldn't get the boy, and his... friends... he nearly killed the Uchiha boy when he went after Naruto."

"Uchiha? He what? He treats that boy like a sibling, how... how could he do this he loved everyone, the village, and his dream to be Hokage why didn't he come back, I don't get it."

"I know I have been trying to understand the reasons behind it but the ending result always comes up blank." Tsunade confessed

"Did anyone get close enough to talk to him?"

"Yes only Sasuke Uchiha, he woke up a few days ago, but so far any attempts to question him, he hasn't answered, he has remained unresponsive."

Jiraiya stood still as he laid his back against the wall as he tried to think of logical explanations as to why the boy would leave.

"I will speak to the boy myself, send his friends to search his place and everywhere he has frequented during his last two weeks" Tsunade nodded as she sent for the ninja who guarded her room to send for the blond boy's friends.

Jiraiya appeared at the window of Sasuke's room, which was wide open to provide the boy with some fresh air, when Jiraiya saw the boy he looked like he was in another state of mind as he looked at the wall across of him, the bed was elevated so that the boy would sit up, most of his wounds were healed.

Jiraiya watched as the boy didn't acknowledge his existence but just kept on staring at the wall, the flowers on his bedside had been recently changed as it seemed to smile in the suns light.

"Sasuke, I don't know if you can hear me but I want to ask, what did Naruto say during your battle with him?" Jiraiya finally asked, his voice seemed to ring a chord with the boy, as emotions seemed to rush into him, he turned to look at Jiraiya at first he couldn't recognize him until he remembered Naruto talking about him, he even saw the man before him with the blond on more than one occasion.

"He said that he couldn't return anymore, the way the villagers treated him, and that he had no one left that he cared about." Sasuke said weakly, as he started to get himself together, bringing his mind back into reality.

'Couldn't?' Jiraiya repeated the boy's words over and over; not letting the shock hit him like a pile of bricks that he actually got the raven to talk.

"Don't you find it strange the way he said he '_**couldn't**_'?" Jiraiya asked, as he watched for the raven's reaction. To Jiraiya's surprise the Uchiha was confused at his question, but as Sasuke thought about it the realization in the words hit him,

'So was he forced, what in the hell happened to him?' Sasuke thought as his old flare had started to light once again.

"What do we do? We basically lost him, what if Orochimaru already took his body?" Sasuke asked frantically

"He was going to, but thanks to that little battle of yours changed his plan, because Naruto was late in reaching him, Orochimaru would have no choice but to use another body, but there is a time limit he can stay in each body you see."

"What's the time limit?" Sasuke asked as he held hope that is would be years.

"It would probably be about three years at least." Jiraiya answered truthfully, the answer sparked the raven haired boy's confidence as he began thinking of how much time he had to retrieve the boy before it was too late.

'So three years, I have three years until then!' The Uchiha thought then the memories of that morning when he actually promised Sakura he would bring the blond back now that he thought about it, it was a promise to himself as he pictured how the blond would do it if he was the one who left it made him seem closer, he had to keep it for a lifetime he knew he would, he had too not for the pink haired companion, but for himself at the hope things would return to the ways they were, laughing, smiling, and eventually fighting which was the one thing that brought him and the blond to be friends.

Sasuke remembered one day, it was the most life changing day that the Uchiha had, except for the night of his clan's massacre, he had told Naruto his dream of avenging his clan, but he and the blond fought tirelessly for nearly two straight weeks. Naruto had told him that revenge would lead to his own unhappiness one day, or how will he live his life when he achieved it, and that it will kill him inside if he continued. Even after all that fighting he didn't listen until that last day of their fighting, Naruto had tried stopping him through words until he did it through action, Naruto was saying that if Itachi didn't kill his clan then he would without batting an eyelash if he was ordered, that was pushed the Uchiha to not know what was friend or foe, he fought Naruto to his full extent as Naruto did the same, Sasuke did Chidori, while Naruto did his Rasengan before the mass amounts of chakra could collide, Naruto released his Rasengan and let the Chidori go through his chest, the blond fell to the ground coughing up a significant amount of blood.

Sasuke watched as his friend was bleeding excessively on the ground in front of him, his anger soon calmed as he came to his senses. He turned the blond on his back as he held him in his arms, attempting to stop the bleeding, he didn't want to watch his friend die, the feeling he had when he fought was the same feeling he felt when he wanted to kill Itachi, but instead of the content feeling he thought he would have, he felt empty, and disgusted with himself.

"Now that you have had you revenge, how do you feel happy... did you feel the way you wanted? If you had revenge you would feel the exact same thing you feel today, right now." Naruto said as the blood gushed out of his mouth, Sasuke felt ashamed that it took him this long to realize this, when it took Naruto seconds to find out. He saw that Naruto's eyes were fading the light that always seemed to shine was blowing out, he carried the blond to the hospital as fast as he could, he nearly lost the boy, that's what the doctors told him when they said the boys only had minutes to live, and that they managed to save him.

As Sasuke slowly returned to reality with one of the famed Sanin in his room, he slowly started to think like he used too with strategies, as he thought the coughs of the Sage distracted him and brought his attention to the old man.

The Sanin was looking at the ground; he had a grim face as he was lost within his own thoughts, it was quiet except for the ticking clock that hung on the wall reminding Sasuke of every second he is losing in finding his beloved blond, the Sanin looked up at him when a pair of passing birds chirped away.

"You know I was thinking on training you, but I have already taught Naruto most of my jutsu, and he will know how to deflect it even if we improve your skills, he will still have Orochimaru's protection, at least until he knows that the boy will never leave his side when given the chance."

"Then what are we going to do, I can't just sit around and do nothing and lose my best friend!" Sasuke snapped, his anger seethed as he looked furiously at the aging Sanin.

Jiraiya saw the infuriated boy, who sat in the hospital bed, he wasn't even fully healed and he wanted to train so that he can go and bring his friend back home, he saw the same fire in him which first drove him to become closer to the young missing blond, who was the raven's determination to get stronger.

'He is just like you, when you were once like this, you always had him in your eyes, pushing yourself forward getting stronger at each passing moment.' Jiraiya thought as he reminisced about Naruto's ambition to get stronger, and protect his most precious one.

"Very well I will try to find that Kakashi kid, I think he can think of a few things to teach an egotistical boy like you." The white haired man said seriously, while his comment on Sasuke didn't help with his anger.

"I have already got his training schedule done, right done to the last detail Jiraiya." A voice suddenly said, the source was located behind Jiraiya as he walked into the room, his white hair stood up light, and soft like a feather, and his mask covered his face all except for his only revealed feature his eye, it was Kakashi who held white documents in his hand as he read it over.

"I see, I will entrust this boy to you then, I would have taught him if I already didn't teach Naruto. That boy I only wish I saw it earlier, but just like Orochimaru we were just...too late." The toad sage said as he stared at the ground his face darkened as he attempted to hide his sorrow as he thought of his student, his honorary grandson.

As soon as Sasuke got discharged from the hospital he went straight to training, Kakashi went easy on him for the first few days then he went all out, he only held back from killing the boy. Sasuke cursed himself every time he fell to the ground due to exhaustion, for every time he wasted to rest when he wanted to train, no he _needed _to train.

Kakashi sensed that he didn't want to stop even though he would die if he used too much chakra, so he gave Sasuke a mission every time he was to rest, he had to help Shikamaru and the rest to find clues, or anything that can be used to save Naruto, that was all he could hope for as each day passed.

* * *

**Orochimaru's lair:**

* * *

Today Naruto was doing his training for eight days in a row as he continued to practice his wind affinity Chakra, which he found out after his first night in the shadowy underground lair, he couldn't remember how he got there with his blurred vision, it was like someone guided him to where he was right now.

Kabuto always came by to give the blond food and to heal any injuries he had made on himself without noticing. He was really impressed by the blond's stamina, even, more so than his amazement at the Chunin exams.

Orochimaru was very pleased with the boy's results; he was finished with his wind manipulation with only a day, and started new wind jutsu, he was learning his fifth ones. He was right to choose him instead, the boy never asks questions, or talks back, he was the perfect student, and the only problem was the Kyuubi he knew that Itachi would come by to take him.

Orochimaru was creating new jutsu, but he was working especially hard on, it was a sealing jutsu which if it did work it will extract the demon, but leave the host unharmed, and kill the one who performs it, now he had to find a sacrifice to practice it on.

"Naruto, I think you should rest, you would be useless to me and the agreement if you were to die from chakra exhaustion." The snake Sanin said as he smiled at the murderous intent from the boys eyes grow more intense since his training was disrupted, but soon calmed when he thought about the agreement, he simply nodded before he went on his way to his chambers through the dim lit hall, as the small fire flickered, and snapped.

When Naruto finally put his head down on the bed given to him by Kabuto, he closed his eyes, swiftly it came back the memories of his small apartment, the Konoha sign posted before his bed, his window beside him which the sun peered through to wake him up in the morning, and the moon to lull him to sleep, that was why he hated sleep, why he went through training every day, he wanted to forget whoever he was before he came here, that was his last wish before sleep finally put his thoughts to rest.

When Orochimaru sensed that the boy fell asleep, he went into his secret room which was filled with jail cells, and his 'experiments', the last ones he sent went to receive the blond boy and got killed by the children sent to retrieve the boy from his grasp, now he wanted something to test his new jutsu on until it was deemed safe to use on Naruto.

He went through each and every jail cell with Kabuto by his side making suggestions to which person would be easily disposable, he said to get rid of a red haired girl he had made into the ultimate tracker as she could read chakra signals, a boy who would go insane within a second when he was angry or in a battle, but completely innocent when calmed, and a boy who he had made into water, but could still hold his physical body.

Orochimaru ignored every suggestion Kabuto made, until he saw a child the same age as Naruto, he hadn't experimented on the boy yet when he arrived a few hours before the blond. The boy had short brunette hair, and wore a gray shirt and shorts which were given to him when he arrived.

The child was nameless to Orochimaru as he forced the boy to use the jutsu on his neighbour in the cell to his left, his neighbour was a failed experiment who was supposed to be able to have eyes that could see Chakra, it was supposed to be similar to the Byakugan, but it would have helped him find any of the tailed beasts, since he wanted to kill one before the predestined catastrophe would occur.

The child used the jutsu on his neighbour which dispelled his neighbours ability to see chakra, but the ending result was what made Orochimaru disappointed, the child died instantly, but the man began screaming as blood poured out of his eyes, nose, and mouth, he was bleeding on the inside, until he hit the ground his eyes were wide as they lost all emotion and dulled, Kabuto sent for some of their obedient experiments to clean up the mess, as Orochimaru went back into his room to try another seal, that was slightly different from the first one.

'That boy should be able to go on his own missions in a few months, when he stops that subconscious defiant look in his eye.' Orochimaru thought when he had to threaten the malevolent blond to rest. Then his thoughts wondered until he thought about how Naruto would become his eventually, because that was what the seal did, it changed people, Orochimaru laughed when he knew the ending result with the boy's loyalty, he smirked when he thought of the sadden looks and the his friends regretful faces when they realize it was too late the day he survived the night after he received the seal.

* * *

**Two weeks later: **

**Konoha**

* * *

Everyone was so antsy, they were worried, angry, and sad that they couldn't do anything but wait for the probation period to be over, they couldn't go on missions since the day Naruto left. Kiba, Hinata, and Neji searched Naruto's apartment to see if he left a clue or hint as to why he left while using their Byakugan, and Kiba used his nose to get the boys scent to see where he moved in the apartment and why, while Shikamaru and Sasuke went through the documents from Orochimaru that weren't burned or destroyed by the third Hokage, they searched for anything that would help make the puzzle connect when they tried to understand his actions.

Sakura, and Ino went through the medical documents that were made during the time Orochimaru was around, to see if he had made any notes to any of the records made while he was experimenting on the villagers.

Every day Tenten, Lee, Shino, and Chouji went through the nearby shops to see if they could gather any information on a blond boy seen anywhere in the region, but every night they came home with basically nothing, the blond people they gained information on were only travelers.

Sasuke read through every document three times before moving onto the next, as Shikamaru did the same but he made every word record in his memory, he learned that the man always did gruesome experiments which often lead to death to the people he experimented on, Shikamaru already knew what he wanted to find as he looked through each document, he was looking for the curse mark that was on Naruto's neck in case that had anything to do with the boys behavior.

Sakura was moving the medical records to the room, which she and Ino were using to research in, but every time she went to gather more papers, she always heard that irritable creak of the floorboard every time she walked into to medical cabinet which was the only thing she was authorized to look at.

When Sakura was about to leave again, that creaking floorboard got the better of her nerves, she put down the documents to remove the board, and nearly split it in two with her strength, when she was about to throw the board something squeaked which caught her attention, she looked down to look at the source, it was a small mouse.

Sakura shrieked which nearly traveled throughout the entire hospital, she scared off the mouse, but when she looked in to the space left behind by the missing board she saw hordes of documents that looked aged, she gathered them as quickly as she could, forgetting the incident that took place merely seconds before.

Ino ran into the room in battle stance when she saw Sakura digging in a hole under the floorboards, she was curious and relieved that her friend/ and love rival was alright.

"Sakura you scared me, and what are you doing?" Ino asked as she moved closer to the pink haired girl.

"Look Ino I found these documents, I think he should take a look at them, you never know they may belong to Orochimaru!" Sakura answered, as her voice strained when she tried to reach a document which was further than her arms length, Ino understood what drove Sakura but she didn't question her as she helped reach the last document which took a lot of effort, because they couldn't go into the whole for the fear it might break, because of the operating room directly below.

When the girls reached the research room they read the aged papers as carefully as they could, when Sakura saw the name at the end of one of them she realized that it had belonged to the snake Sanin, and he was careful on where he hid his things, in the one place they never looked at.

They looked through every one until one of them made Ino scream, Sakura asked her what is said but she was too shocked to reply, Sakura had to go to her side to read the paper, which nearly made her scream as well, but instead she grabbed the girl and ran burst into the Hokage's office.

"Hokage, look what we found!" Sakura yelled at the young looking light blond woman in front of her, who looked at her along with her guest the Kazekage Gaara who was informing and greeting Tsunade that he was the new Kazekage.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked with seriousness in her voice as she looked at the girls, Ino was recovering from some sort of emotional shock, while Sakura was calming herself down,

"I think we found a way to save Naruto!"

* * *

**Orochimaru's lair:**

* * *

Orochimaru was making no progress with the seal, while Naruto improved each day with his training, and summoning which Orochimaru taught him merely an hour before, Naruto nearly had it down until Kabuto interrupted him to bring his daily food supplements to the boy.

Naruto was becoming more and more obedient as time went on, each command Orochimaru gave him seemed like second nature to complete, like the week before he was told to kill a ninja who was moving too close to the hideout, he found the man and found that he was ANBU, he didn't bother looking at which village the man before him was from, but it only took him a few moments to nearly kill him, before the ninja committed suicide and burned his body into ashes.

'Leave no trace behind; they weren't kidding when they said that ANBU risk death every day.' Naruto thought with his blank face looking at the ashes unconcerned, if Naruto looked at the symbol on the man's head he would know where the man was from the hidden leaf and was sent to find and retrieve him.

"Naruto, Orochimaru wants you to move to another hideout in an hour, that ANBU last week had others with him and they found our location." Kabuto said, and he gave directions to the blond boy, who just took it all in before he left to the new location.

"Kabuto is this place easily seen like an entrance on the outside?" Naruto asked with his poker face which eliminated all emotion that was also his training to rid his emotions.

"No you would need to know the combination which is the amount of Chakra you use when you want to enter; out to much or too little the seal on the door is put under complete lock down on the inside as well as the outside for about a year and a half."

"I see so we don't need to worry about anybody sneaking in, when will you arrive?" Naruto asked

"Moments after you, I will teach you how to open it at first, and also we will need you to transfer three of Orochimaru's experiments, a girl and two boys ok the rest will either be brought along or killed." Kabuto said, as he brought Naruto to the three he was to escort, the girl blushed when she saw the stoic boy before her, he was his age, and his emotionless face made his extremely attractive. The water boy stared at the boy, as he grunted, but didn't dare to say a word, while the large boy behind them calmed when he saw the deep ocean eyes that belonged to the blond boy.

Kabuto sent them off while he and Orochimaru, killed over 90%of his useless experiments, with the remaining people left, they brought them to the new lair, where the snake Sanin saw the malicious atmosphere coming from the blond which scared the three he guarded except for the large destructive boy who remained calm even after Orochimaru was a few feet away from him.

'very interesting he can calm this beast within a day, a great asset I have chosen' Orochimaru thought as he looked at the irritated blond who calm his expressions until he was as emotionless as he was before, which pleased the snake, they entered the lair, when everyone was inside he lowered his Chakra level as the seal was placed it would hide them, and give them enough time to train, and keep hidden at the same time.

Naruto remembered the day he gave up his dream of returning to his friends and village.

"Don't you ever want to return home?" Kabuto asked out the blue one day when he brought food to the blond.

"No, I will never return, I can't anyways."

"But what if a friend wouldn't let you go and chase you until you returned?" Naruto thought about his answer for awhile, until he answered.

"Then I will have to kill him, friend or not, I will never return."

'Good the seal is taking effect; it will only be a matter of time before he will be under our complete control.' Kabuto thought as he smiled at the blond's answer who continued his training.

As Naruto looked at the dim lit cave he sighed as he made his way to a chamber to rest his eyes.

'Just like I said that day I will never return, even if Sasuke were to take me back I won't hesitate to kill him, broken arm or not.' Naruto thought as he fell asleep, in the deep underground lair, where he will remain hidden for a year and a half.


	3. We found him

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

* * *

Sorry for the wait I had some problems with my account and couldn't publish any chapters, only recently I learned how to bypass the error page so that I could put up more chapters

So enjoy,

* * *

**Chapter 3: **

**We have a clue.**

* * *

"What have you found out?" Tsunade asked the pink haired Kunoichi who barged into her office, the girl was out of breath as she stared at the Hokage. Sakura tried to slow down her breathing as she attempted to answer Tsunade who was patient enough to wait for her to calm down.

"I found an old jutsu scroll under the floor board within the hospital medical records room, Ino and I already read through each document, I-it was horrible, Ino had to take a few breaks before continuing, I also found some maps on some locations." Sakura said as she was about to continue until the Hokage interrupted her.

"What kind of maps?" Tsunade was getting serious, her expression hardened.

"Maps of some sort of room, or maybe a hide out, it's a little aged, so it's hard to read some of the writing, but I got the locations down on some of them." Sakura answered,

"I see do you have anything else to add?"

"Yes, as I was about to say the jutsu they are used as experiments on humans, it also has some records on who that...man used it on." Sakura held in her anger as she tried to continue, but she clenched her fist, before she could attempt to continue, Tsunade noticed her anger and started to speak.

"You don't have to go into detail just yet; I just need to know what any of this has to deal with Naruto at the moment." Sakura looked up; she started to take deep breaths to calm herself as she released her clenched fist.

"Well there was one jutsu; it was used to control, or tries to change a person's will by some sort of method. I can't read it all it might take some time to decipher it, or I may be completely off, but I know it concerns Naruto look at the picture." Sakura said, as she placed the scroll she had in her pocket in front of Tsunade, who stared at three markings that almost looked identical to the ones Naruto had on his neck, but there were some differences,

'It looks like he either made it more efficient or he used an entirely different jutsu to make us confused, Orochimaru what have you done to the boy?' Tsunade thought as she tried to conclude the picture before her,

"Tell the rest to search for some more clues, I will send some ANBU to these locations." Tsunade said, as Sakura walked out of the office. Then suddenly a large white haired man stood behind her, Tsunade sighed as she waited for her old friend to speak.

"Why didn't you tell her about the recovered ANBU ashes form this area?" Jiraiya asked as he pointed to the coordinates of one of the locations that Sakura found.

"Because I didn't want to give them false hope about him, when they probably already moved away, but we have a whole variety of locations to narrow down to find him. I will wait until we find more clues; never know when his spies could be lurking around. I trust that you will keep an eye out for him?" Tsunade asked as she skimmed the parchment paper for the remaining locations, all in different areas, and lands.

"I will, but it's better to tell them everything, we aren't young anymore we need to make them responsible with our time here, who knows how long we have each and every day." Jiraiya said as he looked outside he was letting her take it all in, she merely sighed.

"You'd probably die before me, outside a bath house or somewhere similar." Tsunade thought aloud, Jiraiya could only stare at her in disbelief, but before he could find an excuse to justify himself she continued.

"You're right, but I will tell them at a later date, for now I will have to do my best for this village, I can't let that brat come home to only see how much of a mess I made while worrying about him. Shizune!" Tsunade yelled a second later a young woman in a black kimono, holding a small pig in red clothes and white pearls appeared, she was just as serious as her mentor.

"Yes milady!" She automatically said, as she waited for her orders.

"I want you to send ANBU to these locations, and tell them not to take this lightly; they may face Orochimaru or one of his minions." Tsunade ordered Shizune grabbed the parchment and left the office; Tsunade looked at her paperwork and began working with a goal in mind to make the place less hectic for when a certain beloved blond came home.

* * *

**Meanwhile: **

**Orochimaru's new lair (a few days later)**

* * *

The new lair was as dim lit as the first one Naruto was at when he ran away from Konoha, It had hundreds of rooms which Naruto didn't feel like exploring, he only went to a few places where he trained with either Kabuto or Orochimaru, and his own room to sleep which he rarely did until Kabuto forced him.

Naruto was with Kabuto who was teaching him the basics of healing jutsu, while the group of three he guarded earlier stared at him in awe, the red haired girl looked at him lustfully Naruto later found out her name was Karin when he woke up with her in his bed the first night they arrived. The other in tow he had still yet to learn their names, but since Orochimaru only let them wander the hideout if Naruto was willing to watch them which was only when he was training which he told Orochimaru they could be target practice if they ran.

"Naruto I have to leave soon put the experiments back where they belong when you're done training." Kabuto whispered as he left the room, Naruto stared at his hands before he stood himself up. Karin used this opportunity to grab his attention to make him love only her. She swayed her hips, as she walked towards Naruto, removing her glasses as she winked at him, and giggled as she was about to speak, but before she could do anything the blond walked away not even acknowledging her as he began to meditate, she just stared at him in excitement convincing herself that he was merely shy, while the white haired boy laughed causing them to have a silent bicker, knowing full well if they bothered the blond they would die in an instant.

Kabuto noticed Naruto's actions towards the girl, then his mind wandered to the loud mouth boy he met at the Chunin exams as he was fawning all over a pink haired Kunoichi and smiled whenever he was acknowledge, then slowly his mind returned to reality in the silent hallway, that had the flames on the walls flickering and crackling as they broke the silence and lit the room. Kabuto was pleased with Naruto's actions as he walked towards Orochimaru's room, the snake Sanin was working restlessly on the new jutsu to extract Naruto's demon from him. When Kabuto walked into his master's room he noticed it was lighter than the hallway, and the walls were covered with notes and observations from the last twenty results they got from their failed experiments.

"Why don't we ask Naruto, Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked when he found his master reading his own recent notes; the Snake Sanin looked away from his research to think about the proposition.

'He has been progressing rather fast, and his mother was-'Orochimaru thought, he nodded at Kabuto before he turned his attention back to the notes he had discovered.

Kabuto bowed at his master before leaving his room to return to Naruto, who was about to return the three back to Orochimaru's secret room which Naruto was still unaware of as he only stopped at the door never walking in. Naruto was about to walk back to his training room but suddenly stopped as he saw Kabuto walk out, the older boy simply looked at him, it was a look that Naruto quickly learned was one to tell him to follow which he did obediently.

'He is growing more obedient by the day; the mark seems to be working even more efficiently than Orochimaru's first experiment.' Kabuto thought to himself as he observed Naruto's behaviour which seemed to have lost most of his subconscious defiant look whenever he was disturbed.

They walked to Orochimaru's room, as they kept silent neither willing to talk as they walked into the snake Sanin's room, he was still reading his notes trying to figure out where he went wrong, until he noticed Naruto standing beside Kabuto staring at him with emotion missing from his face, which pleased the malevolent man who looked at his new creation.

"Naruto my student I need you to try to find the solution to the puzzle I have made for you, in this you must find the flaw and fix it. There is no time limit but your training time will but cut in half until this is completed understood." Orochimaru asked as he waited for an answer, Naruto simply nodded as he began his new test. Orochimaru was very pleased that the blonds will was slowly dissipating as he watched his future self working away looking at each piece of information given to him making his own little changes almost unconsciously aware of what he was doing.

'I think I will teach him seals next, he seems to have a knack for this.' Orochimaru thought as he watched the blond who was now nearly complete with his first experimental seal.

* * *

**Back at Konoha:**

* * *

Sasuke was training with Kakashi who was trying to teach him techniques that would suit his lightening chakra nature, but Sasuke was finding it hard to concentrate as he went through the hand signs Kakashi was showing him.

"Sasuke I think that's enough for today, we'll do this once again tomorrow when you are in the right mood." Kakashi said as stopped moving his hands; the raven looked at him in confusion until the words processed in his mind.

"Sorry, I just can't seem to think straight anymore." Sasuke answered as his ruffled his own hair as a way to release some of his own frustration; Kakashi looked at his student as he sighed.

"I know what you mean, losing a close friend is rather difficult, but think how he'll feel when he see's you his rival and best friend losing himself in frustration." Kakashi looked at the young Uchiha who was thinking hard about his sensei's words as he agreed and walked home lost within his thoughts once again.

The ANBU all returned after searching the given coordinates, every single one of them talked to the Hokage telling her what they found while they were out at Orochimaru's labs, they mainly told her what they concluded was the last time it was used, each one she felt like she was closing in on Orochimaru, 20 years, 15 years, 5 years, 2 months, then finally a few days. She sent the returning ANBU and a few Jounin to investigate the last lab to try and find a trail, or anything that could give them a clue about where they could find the missing blond.

Sakura was looking through the remaining documents that she found a few days earlier as she was trying to understand the concept of the subject, it talked about random effects the jutsu would cause, but all in all it looked like a bunch of random drabbles put together.

* * *

**Naruto:**

* * *

'I can't understand a word of this' Naruto thought to himself as he read the many pieces of paper Orochimaru gave to him, it was all mixed together, and hard to read. Naruto wondered if Orochimaru was just joking around with his when he said he wanted him to create a new seal, but Naruto did it just in case the great snake Sanin was serious.

"Naruto, Orochimaru wants you to take a break from you 'assignment' to come and train he wants you to learn about seals" Kabuto stood in the door way

"I already have some training in that area." Replied as he continued to work, he found many errors in the seal before him, as he placed many small changes. Kabuto

"Naruto, he wants to teach you a more advanced sealing technique, and he wants to know how far you are with this subject." Kabuto continued as the blond looked at him, and finally stood up walking out of the room following Kabuto who was leading him to the large room where Orochimaru taught him personally. The pale Sanin waited for him in the middle of the room, as he watched Naruto walk in, he looked like he was a servant awaiting his master unaware his seal on his neck was glowing in the bright room.

"Naruto its time for your training," Orochimaru smirked as he watched the blond while Kabuto left them alone knowing full well it was going to take hours for them to finish and for him to master.

* * *

**A few hours later:**

* * *

'I will wait for a few more days to tell him what his 'assignment' is for. Also I must remember to thank Jiraiya for teaching the boy this subject.' Orochimaru thought as he watched the blond almost finished mastering the sealing Justus's.

Orochimaru left the blond to finish the jutsu, while he returned to his room to see what the boy had done as a smile crept from the corners of his mouth when he looked at the altered seal.

"Kabuto use this immediately and tell me the results." Orochimaru hissed as he threw the altered scroll at Kabuto who caught it and bowed before he left to the new experiments, which were brought in the day they arrived.

Kabuto wanted to use the three who were attached to the blond, but he knew the consequences to use them because they still had some use for his master and his new apprentice. Kabuto walked up to a young girl with short black hair, which was cut quite roughly, she was huddled in the corner of her cage, shaking violently as she saw the white haired teen outside the metal bars of her cage. Kabuto smiled at her, it was not his usual fake smile which he used at the Chunin exams to make himself seem friendlier and less of a threat, and this smile was sadistic and made all those around him back away from the little girl's cage right next to theirs.

"Do you want to get out of here alive and safe?" He asked the girl who looked at him in disbelief until he continued to speak.

"If you used this jutsu, you're free to go, and no one will follow you and take you back here for more 'tests'" Kabuto said as he watched the girl crawl towards him, her arms were covered in bandages, he knew were the most recent cuts Orochimaru used on her. When the girl was right before him, looking at him with hope-filled eyes he smiled again out of enjoyment, he knew that there was no way out for the next year and a half. He handed the little girl the scroll, she slowly unrolled it as she looked at it curiously.

"If you use this on that man there I will let you go okay?" He nodded as she looked at him, she smiled at him unaware of what she was doing, but the man he pointed at was shocked, he couldn't speak because Orochimaru cut out his tongue a few months before, he knew what the seal was for he was there the very first time they started using it, he saw the boy and the man die beside him the most horrifying death he saw. He started to cry when she started to use it, his own unique power was taken away from him as he waited for the excruciating pain to come next, but nothing happened as he heard a thump. The man opened his shut eyes to see the little girl lying on the floor of her cage completely lifeless, while he was alive. Kabuto looked at the man pleased until a second later the man fell to the ground, he was unresponsive, it wasn't until Kabuto opened his cell, and observed him did he realize that the man was dead.

'Better than Orochimaru's last twenty experiments, he didn't die of excruciating pain, or excessive bleeding.' Kabuto observed as he left them, and made another one that he trusted to clean the mess in the closed off underground building. Kabuto went to Orochimaru with the scroll in hand, to tell the man of his observation, and it was close to being complete.

When he arrived into the snakes room, the older Sanin was sitting in a chair waiting for the results, on his face was a sadistic smile as he wondered about the boys first results, but when Kabuto told him about it, his malevolent smile was replaced with a frown.

"Damn so he was closer than I was, in only one try, I guess that would mean I would have to let the boy live longer than I would like, at least until he loses his value as my new assistant and more like a sacrifice." Orochimaru smirked as he thought about taking in the blonds' body.

* * *

**Back at Konoha: **

**Five months later:**

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find them, I asked you five months ago, and what have you been doing all this time?" Tsunade yelled as she threw her fist at her desk which cracked in two as she glared at the group of ANBU before her, each one didn't flinch as they waited for her to calm down to listen to them.

"Milady, we have been searching the area over and over again, but like every single result it gets cut off in barren part of the desert, but there is nothing there. We had countless search parties, and each came back with no results."

"Are you sure he didn't hide it?" Tsunade asked as she read the report before her, she knew how her old teammate knew a way to throw off a pursuit by hiding in an most proficient way. He was better at hiding and ducking away from attention for years than her, he wouldn't put it past him to find a way to hide an entire lair from a group of ANBU.

"We could try using some Hyuga to come help in the search, but we have no members of that clan in the ANBU." The captain said in a emotionless voice, as a result of his training.

"Well I will get the next available Hyuga to go with you tonight." Tsunade finally calmed, as the ANBU before her bowed, and left the room in a flash at the wave of her hand.

'Kid where are you, come home you have no idea how much we need you.' Tsunade's thoughts moved back towards the memories she had of the blond, she remembered he was smiling, and had a lot of determination to even go against her in a fight. He always had a way to prove everyone wrong, just a few weeks after their encounter he started to act strange as he made himself more secluded. No one noticed the changes until the last day he was with them, the boy had completely pushed them away, his mark on his neck was growing larger each day, but still no one looked at his neck, so they didn't notice.

Her old teammate was a sadistic bastard as he thought it would be entertaining to go after the life of most people in the village, he turned the blond ray of sunshine into one of his puppets, a being that only he could control.

Tsunade thought about Jiraiya's last report, he told her that no one had heard from the snake in a while, it was like he was taken off of the face of the earth. Naruto was his last move in the Ninja world, ever since the blond boy disappeared, no one saw hair nor hide of the malicious snake.

In the distance, Sasuke was training with Kakashi while trying to reach a new potential level at his genjutsu, he knew if he didn't have the strength to fight off Orochimaru, he would at least try to create a distraction while he ran off with the blond. Sasuke worked everyday to get stronger and to save his brother of circumstance, until he was back home and safe from the pale clutches of the snake Sanin.

Sakura was training to become a medic nin, she was working with a fish to heal it before she moved unto the harder subjects, she didn't want to get left behind while she was waiting for the blond. Sakura wanted to become strong enough so that when the day finally came to save Naruto, she would be able to heal her comrades to continue the fight until they reach their goal, the prize the two sides would die for, it was Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

**Orochimaru's lair:**

* * *

Naruto sat in Orochimaru's room once again, he was working on his 'project' but he knew that it was going to be used to extract his demon, he worked relentlessly as the seconds passed into minutes, the minutes into hours, the hours into days, and the days into months. Naruto had completed the seal a long time ago and it was a success but Kabuto wanted to wait until the last day in the sealed hideout to tell the Snake Sanin, he said it was to be a surprise, but he wouldn't go against orders when Kabuto told him he was forbidden to tell Orochimaru about it.

Naruto's training was cut in half, but that didn't stop him from reaching new levels, as he was slowly surpassing the level of his last Sensei, Kakashi the copy nin. Naruto's strength even surpassed Kabuto's after their mock battle when Orochimaru wanted to see Naruto's level, the results almost caused the Snake to salivate, as he witnessed the power Naruto displayed from his short time with the Snake, he was like a clay, and was molded into the perfect being for the Snake, but he still held off the idea of taking the blond as he still thought the boy still had some use for him.

The days were getting shorter for the blond, sometimes he would lose himself in his thoughts while he meditated, or while he was training, it was like he was slowly losing control on his body as it sometimes moved automatically. Kabuto only visited him to eat nowadays, or when it was time for his monthly medical check up, but other times Naruto never saw him, he was always in the secret door doing something, but Naruto never felt the urge to walk in due to curiosity.

Naruto also found himself able to sleep at night, even when his thoughts would always go to his apartment room, he never felt the pain in his heart like he did the first time, it was like it didn't affect him at all, as he walked back to his room. He was finished for the day, he made his quota in seals, as he was directed to do by Kabuto, so that Orochimaru wouldn't become suspicious.

When the thoughts of Konoha came to his mind, he always shrugged them off, but there was a numbing feeling that came to his heart, he forgot what the emotion was saying to him, while his memories was slowly fading away, he knew none of them would understand why he had to stay with his monster of a teacher, it was the only reason he allowed himself to become control by the snake it was a reason he never voiced aloud, afraid that some unknown servant of the snake would report him, and would place him at the top of the list for the pale Sanin's new body.

Naruto walked into his room laying in his bed staring at the ceiling recalling the events that lead up to him being in the Snakes care, as he remembered his vigorous training, and his results, now it was impossible for him to hide his skill when he was in training, or fighting for his life in the mock battles that Orochimaru made for him when he was needed to be tested.

"Why can't I sleep tonight?" Naruto asked himself as he continued to stare at the ceiling losing himself in his thoughts once again, he noticed that someone else was in the room with him, but made no movement to seek the unknown person in his room, not caring who it was. He finally went to sleep totally unaware it wasn't Kabuto who was watching him, as the unknown person in his room as tree roots removed themselves quietly from the sleeping blonds room, as it moved through the ground and reappearing to it's original.

Above the blond on the surface, stood an ANBU solider waiting for his clone to come up from the ground and disperse itself to show him its memories from the scouting mission below the ground. The Hyuga was seeing things that distorted his vision when ever he looked at the ground, it was like a force was blocking his vision, as he tried to see what it was he was looking at. The ANBU solider named Tenzo saw his clone emerge from the ground, they merged together as he received it's memories, he saw the blond boy they were looking for, he was sleeping directly below him, he needed reinforcements when he saw the amount of people in the place with him, there were hundreds when there was only a hand full of ANBU and a couple Hyuga with them.

When he made his way to his superiors he told them what his clone saw, they all looked relieved they found the boy, but troubled at the thought of that many beings within the hideout. They sent a couple of their ANBU team to report to the Hokage while they tried to find a way in or outside, as he made his way to the area where Tenzo said was the blonds room. The sky above them was pitch black as it made it harder for them to see through its veil of darkness, the two Hyuga's that were with them, looked below them, they noticed it was much more distorted than any other area they looked, it was obvious to them they were trying to hide the boy at any cost.

"We would have to wait for our orders to do anything, for now we must mark this place as the place where the boy sleeps." The captain said as he made a clone, and ordered it to retrieve their supplies and to place them at the area to mark the place without making a fire to give away their location.

"Should I keep checking the area out?" Tenzo asked while he was scanning the area just in case he made anyone aware of their presence

"Yes, only at thirty minute intervals, I don't want them to know we are here." The Captain replied as he told them it was time to rest, as he appointed himself as first watch. Everyone else did as they were told and went to rest, but they never put themselves into deep sleep, to many dangerous missions made that impossible for them, as they slept while still aware of their surroundings.

* * *

**Konoha: **

**A few hours later**

* * *

The ANBU ran through the gates without checking in, he didn't care that he as going against protocol, they finally made a discovery, and he wanted to report it as soon as possible. The Chunin at the gate were angry that the masked individual didn't check as he ran through, with two of the ANBU stationed at the gate came chasing him, the messenger merely made some hand signals as he told them he was returning on a scouting mission of the blond boy, with that they left the man alone but still kept a wary eye on him before returning to their posts at the gate.

He traveled at high speeds, that would be impossible for any other ninja, except for the Yellow flash who was still faster than him, and that was the reason that he was chosen to deliver the message, his partner was far behind him as he made his way to the gate to check both himself and the messenger in so that it wouldn't cause to much trouble when he walked in.

Tsunade sat at her desk slowly working on the paperwork in front of her when an ANBU burst into her office, not appearing put of nowhere like other ANBU, then she realized which ANBU was in front of her the emergency dispatch messenger used for the certain ANBU team she sent to scout the area where Orochimaru's last hide out was.

"Lady Hokage we found him."

* * *

**Well looks like things are going to get hectic for the citizens for Konoha, but what is the cure that will save the blond, or will they be too late in applying what could save him until next time**

**O.o that was kinda corny, sorry I guess I have been watching to much anime lol, well seriously I am sorry I forgot to update, I thought that I already put this one up while I was working on the next chapter, then I realized that I didn't sorry for the wait everyone**


	4. The Voice

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. There I said it! (starts pouting on the side) LoL**_

* * *

**Summary:** **_What if the roles were switch? Naruto went to Orochimaru but what were his reasons? and what if Sasuke tried desperately to get his friend back home only to fail. But what happens if this time there is a solution that the hidden leaf must find before Naruto is offered up to Orochimaru as a sacrifice._**

**_Sorry for the wait everyone, its just that I haven't been given much inspiration, but don't worry I don't ever give up on a story once I start but I would take some time before I finish, and once I get my groove back (lol) then I will be writing like there's no tomorrow ;)_**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The voice**

* * *

Naruto woke up feeling quite empty, he was starting to get aware of his surroundings, it has never happened before he was usually in a drunken state of mind, just moving along unknowingly. He was actually seeing everything clearly for once, but he knew it wouldn't last, he would remember why he was there and why he could never return home ever again. He walked to his desk that was the only other thing that decorated his empty room, he wrote down what ever was on his mind at the moment before his original drive took him back to the way he was before.

The voice that tore him down had ceased to talk when he first arrived, he couldn't remember what the thing was saying, just that he had to get away, and he remembered that there was a lot of emotional pain when he listened to that cursed voice. At that moment he was wondering what he was doing with his life, what was the point of going to Orochimaru when he could accomplish his goal without him by his side getting him stronger for the inevitable, he knew it was an impossible to avoid, but maybe it would reassure him once he reached the end of the path he started on, only time could tell.

But he knew it was too late... but for what, he didn't remember.

* * *

Kabuto was walking through his secret lab as he was working on a new serum that will help Naruto forget all about his own free will permanently , and just be tool at Orochimaru's dispense for him to dispose of at any given moment he finds his pawns of no further use to him. The seal on his neck was powerful, but it never hurt to be prepared for the day when the seal breaks unexpectedly, when he was finished he looked at his own personal science equipment that he used to help Orochimaru with his experiments and to further his own medical jutsu with poisons he concocted himself to use on the battlefield when the time came, he watched with a look in his eye like all the sanity had escaped from his mind, leaving behind a shell of insanity released on the world.

Orochimaru watched from afar, he knew to always be careful even with the ones who would sacrifice their own lives for him, those people were especially dangerous as they were unpredictable. He had planned so far ahead about how he was going to take the blond boy, but if this _boy_ were to experiment on him to make him behave better or any where near that train of thought, it would ruin the purpose of all his planning. If the boy were obedient it would be counterproductive to his plans and he wouldn't ruin them for another mindless slave.

There was no fun in that.

* * *

Naruto got up from his chair, after finishing his writing for the day he seemed to be at peace for the moment, like his life had another purpose. He had to kill that feeling before it grew, he would not go against his agreement, it was a long agreement that would in the end would claim his life when the time came, he knew he was sacrificing a lot when he gave the snake his word, during his time with the man, he was slowly making sure that agreement would stand even if he was to die before his time, he would create something, anything to make sure that the snake didn't go against his word.

The walk to the training room was uneventful, everything was quiet in the darkened hallway. His mind was filled with memories haunting his every step as he imagined the brick streets, walking down the streets of 'The Hidden Leaf Village', everything he saw were the sights of the lush and green tree's where he spent his days training, honing his skills, and his every breath, he smelt the fresh dew on the morning grass, the cold chill in the morning to the smell of the flowers deep in the forest and the warmth of the afternoon.

As he reached the large grey doors, that held his teacher, and master who he would obey for as long as his own body was his to own. Naruto looked down at his own hand as he thought about all the lives he would take while under this man's rule, and the worse thing was that he felt the guilt of what hadn't happen yet, he really needed to kill himself, on the inside, all these feelings that were bombarding his very life were going to drive him crazy, he needed to forget his own personal emotions as well it seemed.

He needed to find the road to a life full of emptiness, he needed to forget the world as he knew it, it had to disappear until he could kill and not remember all that he was taught as a citizen of Konoha, and one of it's soldier's, but as a cold heart killer he would pass the test set for himself.

"I'm running out of time." He whispered to himself as he walked through the large grey doors, the inside was just as dark as the light wavered in every direction as the flame did. The blond boy stood at the center of the room, there were no audience this time as he raised his arms, preparing for a move that was as unstable as the power he housed deep within himself. As the large doors slowly closed, but before the doors shut a bright red light flashed through the doors before the darkness resumed in the hallways, where Kabuto was watching the blond apprentice enter the room alone, his serum in his hand prepared and ready.

Kabuto was ready to enter that room, regardless if the prisoners were there to witness what he had done or not, he couldn't allow the blond the chance to run away. Kabuto looked at the grey doors obsessively as he imagined holding the blonds throat, injecting the green liquid inside of the struggling boy, it was so alluring to experiment on a subject who could heal through every injury, a lot faster than normal people, so many experiments could be performed at a shorter time span than that of the usual test subjects. And the fact that he was off limits was just too tempting to go in and just take him regardless of the consequences, except for Orochimaru there was no second chance.

Walking away, he kept his experiment for another time, for another subject he knew better now that he was awakened from his little daydream, if that is what he would call it when he wanted to experiment so badly.

"I need more control, Lord Orochimaru has no need for those who don't know how stay in control of themselves." Orochimaru left his hiding place in the shadows, watching Kabuto's retreating back leave the area, and towards the dungeons to try again with the captured experiments just waiting to be used. Then he turned his gaze towards the training room doors, he felt the excitement soaring through his body as he had witnessed the power behind that attack.

"So very close, just a little longer." He whispered,

He felt restless, he should have known better than to conceal them for a whole year and a half in one location, he usually never stayed for more than a few months, now that they found them, he would have to use the boy, it was time to unleash his greatest design. He would utilize him once they broke through, they would never suspect that he was going to attack them, and they were deluded to even think he would return to that cursed village Hidden in the Leaf.

Then he would have to open **_that_ **door.

* * *

"If only we had the resources to break into the cave, you checked all possible exit ways that they could use,

"That's affirmative, there are no exits they could use to escape, the only way in or out is through that boulder, but it's on a timed system, which will open whenever the seal breaks, or restarts." Said the ANBU, as he inspected the dirt, and their current surroundings.

"Can't we just break through? That would save us the trouble of bringing in countless of specialist shin-obi?" The Hyuga asked as he inspected the boulder they had found filled with many different symbols and seals.

"No it appears that would be counter productive, this is the kind of seal we use in the ANBU, it requires a specific amount of chakra to open it, if you put a different amount, then the area would collapse and take destroy everything inside." Higure said as he stood up to stretch his legs, he ran his hand through the seals, looking for a loop hole, or anything, but he was realistic he knew that Orochimaru wouldn't use half ass techniques.

"Damn it, just when we were about to get somewhere!" Growled Takamaru, their head ANBU in charge of the mission to the capture of the s-classed criminal Orochimaru, and the rescue retrieval of the nine tailed jinchiriki. He only had Tenzou to rely on, because none of his comrades made it inside past the barriers, and the dirt in the ground without being detected.

Takamaru was an older shin-obi who has known the shin-obi world for a long time, he just had his fortieth birthday which was rare among their ranks, the highest being seventy-four, and counting with the Hokage advisers still alive and kicking. His hair was greying, as it was a crew cut to help keep it out of his way, unlike the younger generations who depended on skills and fashion. His black eye's stared straight ahead as he started to think about the next course of action, he knew what he had to do but he wanted to see if there was another way he may have missed with two younger eye's by his side to see a different solution than the one forming in his mind.

"What else can we do?" He finally asked after a few moments of tense silence, he knew they wouldn't be able to continue without losing the most precious amount of time, and he knew how limited their chances of success was.

"I don't have the answer for that, I don't even know what else we can do at this point, but wait. We have the Village of the leaf's most wanted criminal, and our most wanted weapon, and comrade here, we can't make hasty decisions, that would ruin all of our planning."

"I understand that, but waiting is not a luxury we have at the moment, we need to use all the time we have quickly, the longer we wait the lower the chances of success is. Go and retrieve the boy immediately so far you are the only one able to go in and out of there alive and undetected."

"All due respect sir, but that's impossible to achieve-"

"You're in ANBU now boy, you don't question, or go back on orders." He stared down at the young adult ANBU before him, his decision unwavering, he knew he was harsh but that was the life of all ANBU, it was either follow orders or die, simple as that. The young ANBU backed down, he knew the man before him was right about everything he said, and he had more experience he wasn't naive to think that everyone would get out of this unscathed, he knew exactly what the consequences of what they were about to do would occur.

'It was wrong of me to question his order, I would be lucky if he didn't report me.' Tenzou just did as asked as he went back to where he had found the young boy, when he approached the group that was marking the exact area where the Hyuga jounin said the distortion was the strongest, and now they knew why, the boy was creating the misty vision for the Hyuga's.

As Tenzou began to descend into the ground, he signaled the waiting jounin, and ANBU team to be in their attack position, cause he didn't know what would happen when he would bring the child above the ground.

* * *

Naruto retired to his room once his strength left his body once again, it was getting suspicious to the young boy, but he knew better than to allow his curiosity to rise, as he beat down his self conscious thinking once again, he was getting too aware of his surroundings once again.

As he rested his head once again on the pillow of his bed, he was out like a light. He didn't sense the approaching chakra signatures, or the fact that the seal on the 'only' door was slowly being decoded.

Tenzou had finally reached the boys room, when he descended to the ground he noticed that the room was dim-lit. Inspecting his surroundings, searching for any security systems, but he sensed none, that didn't put him at ease though just made his raise his guard. Tenzou created a clone out of the dirt walls and ordered it to carry the boy to the surface, as he searched the room for anything of use. But the room was bare, except for the desk that had a single piece of parchment paper on top of it, and words scribbled down. When Tenzou approached the desk, and tried to read the paper, his eyes widened as he stuffed the paper into his overcoat pocket, and went to follow his clone.

Upon reaching the surface Tenzou arrived at the scene where his supervising captain was injecting a needle into the sleeping boys neck. Takamaru knew the real Tenzou finally reached the surface, and he knew what kind of expression the young adult would be wearing when he would arrive at the scene, it was mere confusion.

"Its a sleeping sedative, just for precautionary measures."

"Isn't that a bit much?"

"Boy, when you finally reach my age, you'll learn it's never too much. And you seem to have a habit for questioning your superiors orders."

"I understand sir, sorry for questioning you."

"You will be properly dealt with when we return to the village."

"I understand." Tenzou bowed respectively, as he waited for his next set of orders.

"Team move out immediately, Orochimaru may already know we have been knocking on his door for the last few days, I want to be home before dinner." Takamaru lifted the young blond over his shoulder, as he took off in the direction of the Hidden leaf Village, with two ANBU by his side, as the rest of the team sealed away all of their equipment, supplies, and tents, then take off after him.

* * *

**The Village: **

**Decoding the scroll**

* * *

Jiraiya sat in his chair and desk which were given to him by the Decoders division, who specialize in decoding many varieties of coded text, seals, and pictographs, basically anything. As he started working on understanding his old teammates rushed handwriting, which he was so used to the complete perfection he used to witness when he was a child in the academy.

But it was nearly genius to write that messily, it provided the writer a chance to read their own writing, and make it difficult for any one to understand their _supposed_ gibberish. Jiraiya finally made it through the first paragraph, that's when a member of the ANBU Black ops division appeared behind him.

"What do you want?" Jiraiya asked distractedly, as he wrote down the words he had already deciphered on the note pad beside him.

"The retrieval of an Naruto Uzumaki has been a success, the Hokage wants your immediate audience." The ANBU stated, as he disappeared just as swiftly as he appeared. Jiraiya's eye's widened as he Shushined into the Hokage's office, facing Tsunade as she regarded him with a simple glance as she returned to her paper work.

"Is it true?" He asked, his voice was void of any emotion, considering the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't play around at all.

"Yes it is, I have just received word that they got him, but left Orochimaru in his lair, it was nearly impenetrable, it was rather fortunate that I place that _special_ ANBU on that team."

"_Special_?"

"Yes, one of Orochimaru's **_gifts_**."

"Oh that young man, yes what a fortunate gift indeed."

* * *

**Naruto's mind-scape:**

* * *

The blond floated, lost within the dark abyss of his mind. His surroundings slowly clearing up, making him more aware then he would have liked.

'They have no need for you, they only need _**him** _alive.'

That voice returned, just as cold and cunning as before.

'As soon as you dispose of him, they will all disappear.'

It feels like an icy arm wrapping itself around his body, never letting him leave, keeping him in place.

'It will be as it once was, once again. You must see the master, it is the only way.'

Never to be free, always trapped. It was a never-ending cycle, one that Naruto will stay on for eternity.

'Your promise still has yet to be fulfilled.'

It will always remind him of what he had to do, what was left to do.

'Your vow will be enforced very soon, its almost time.'

His job, his mission, his very existence was made for this day. That's what he believed, after all, no one else can finish this other than him.

'**_He_ **awaits you.'

His promise will soon be fulfilled, and all will be right once again.

* * *

**There I finished this chapter as well, man I'm on a roll these last few days.**

**Well here's proof to say that I never give up on my stories, I may take forever to update, but I always will.**

**:D**

**Hope you enjoyed this little development.**

**also for those who noticed I edited this**


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